


Keane in The Old Guard as a homophobic villain with plausible deniability

by ViridianPanther



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Essays, Gen, Meta, Not Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:46:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26300632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViridianPanther/pseuds/ViridianPanther
Summary: An analysis of Keane (Merrick's head of security) in The Old Guard movie, and his vendetta with Joe and Nicky.TL;DR: Keane’s behaviour is used to code him as a homophobic bully, using violence to subjugate and dominate a happy queer couple.Edited 28 Sept 2020, please read the notes
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 9
Kudos: 92
Collections: The Old Guard Resources





	Keane in The Old Guard as a homophobic villain with plausible deniability

**Author's Note:**

> This is basically a brain dump on why I, and possibly many other queer viewers, found Keane (Steven Merrick’s head of security and personal bodyguard) such a compellingly terrifying villain in _The Old Guard_ , and why there’s _that much_ discourse about his (relatively small) part in the movie.
> 
> Hopefully this will make the situation clearer for (particularly cishet) fanfic writers who may not be aware of the subtext, and may be food for thought before you embark on _that_ fic that features Keane in a sympathetic capacity, etc. Obviously I can’t stop people writing these things, but I think it’s important we think about the implications of what we write.
> 
>  ** _IMPORTANT NOTE 28 SEPT 2020:_ I have edited this after some folks raised (valid) concerns that much of the discourse around Keane may have come about through the lens of the actor, Joey Ansah, being a person of colour (he is of mixed heritage with parents who are are Ghanaian and British).** In the original version I failed to account for the fact that Keane’s ethnicity may have led to me, as a white cis person with my internalised racism and anti-Blackness, interpreting his character in a certain way (i.e. hypermasculine and violent). I should have known better and have no excuses for this. I am truly sorry for any harm this interpretation has caused.
> 
> I also want to make it clear that this is my interpretation of Keane, based on my own experience from the receiving end of homophobic attacks and microaggressions. I am not perfect. If I’ve unwittingly allowed harmful tropes to guide my analysis here, **please** reach out to me and I will fix it. My ask box on Tumblr is open.
> 
> * * *
> 
>  **TL;DR: Keane’s behaviour is used to code him as a homophobic bully, using violence to subjugate and dominate a happy queer couple.** This is an experience that speaks to many queer viewers (particularly gay men) who will recognise Keane’s behaviour as homophobic, but with plausible deniability. It is a very well-pitched performance by Joey Ansah, and the creative team made some clever choices that underlined the threat his character poses to Joe and Nicky.

In the context of Keane being mixed Black, I no longer think it’s helpful to analyse his physical appearance as a red flag (although there were obvious choices made by the creative team in showing him as well-dressed and well-groomed.) The main thing that screams ‘danger’ to me about him is his behaviour around Joe and Nicky.

There is an obvious vendetta that exists, is in some ways surprising because it takes place over a grand total of **four** scenes in which Keane and Joe/Nicky interact. He also never actually _says_ anything to them. The only language he uses is violence.

## Microaggressions, dehumanisation, subjugation

The first encounter is in the aftermath of the famous van speech—Keane is the one who opens the door, and discovers his guards have been knocked out or killed (while Nicky snarkily asks if their restraints can be removed.)

Keane does not speak _to_ Joe or Nicky at all in this case—he shouting _to_ his team of security underlings to get them onto the plane. He is looking them in the eyes, but he is doing so down the barrel of a gun. (This is important—we’ll come back to that.) He is clearly perturbed by their defiance, and responds by asserting his own dominance and power.

This is important in comparison to the van scene that came before it, because superficially there is nothing ‘homophobic’ about Keane’s behaviour here (unlike the guard asking ‘what is he, your boyfriend?’ and the guards then pulling Joe and Nicky apart as they kiss.) You could read Keane’s behaviour as alarm and anger that his retrieval team has had their heads bashed in. It’s also likely (with the raised voice and the guns) to be the typical kind of intimidation tactics employed by a captor, particularly with a military background (Copley mentions that Keane is ‘ex-Special Forces,’ which would suggest, in the UK, that he is a former member of the SAS or a similar unit.)

 **However:** It’s very unusual, to my eyes, that Keane says _absolutely nothing_ to Joe and Nicky. Not even a “you’re coming with us,” or a “stop talking.” He doesn’t even stop them trying to talk to Copley. He refuses to engage them in conversation at all. There is a subtext here: many of us have experienced **social shunning**. This is where someone actively avoids interacting with someone. It is not a homophobic slur or an instance of physical contact, but it remains a microaggression. I read this as an example of homophobia with plausible deniability.

(We do not see what happens _on_ the jet, or between the plane landing and their arrival at Merrick’s office on Fetter Lane. I can imagine the atmosphere was frosty.)

## Holding the coat for the ringleader

The next interaction happens when Joe and Nicky are brought before Merrick. Throughout this scene, again, they are physically restrained, both with zip-cuffs and by guards holding their arms.

Keane’s principal interaction here comes when Joe headbutts Merrick. He briefly grabs Joe by the neck, as if to throttle him, and makes eye contact—again, whilst holding a gun to his head. He keeps his gun trained on Joe whilst Merrick stabs him like a pin-cushion (although two of Keane’s underlings are the ones who actually restrain him.)

This scene is reminiscent of a typical pattern seen in school bullies: namely, that physically powerful people subdue the victim, and clear the way for the ringleader to assert their physical dominance with impunity. I certainly remember encounters in school that were like this. Many others who were homophonically bullied in their childhood will recognise Joe’s experience (and Nicky’s terror in watching it happen and being unable to do anything.)

By this point we are over an hour into the film, and Keane has still not actually said a single word _to_ Joe or Nicky. He has used a single mode of communication with them: physical intimidation.

## The fight scene: all about domination

The next time we see Keane interact with Joe and Nicky, it is the first time Keane actually fights them. It happens in the aftermath of an explosion, after Andy, Nile, and Booker have escaped.

Keane clearly has the upper hand in this fight, having the element of surprise in blowing up the wall, and having a gas mask. Joe and Nicky, both winded, injured by shrapnel, and struggling to breathe in the cloud of dust, try desperately to _claw_ at Keane in an attempt to bring him to their own level, maybe remove his mask, and to draw him away from each other. Meanwhile, Keane kicks, and punches, and pummels the boys with heavy blows, and throws them to the floor.

If he wanted to slow them down or immobilise them (albeit briefly to buy time to escape) he could’ve shot them. He _chooses_ not to do that, instead going for an all-out physical assault. This fight is about inflicting pain.

There is little finesse to these attacks. (This is not because they couldn’t have done it. Joey Ansah is a highly skilled martial artist, and could almost certainly have produced something more visually impressive if that was the intention.) Every blow Keane strikes is aggressive, and all about asserting his own power. It is almost like watching a drunken fight outside a bar or club. It is an ugly melée of unfocused rage.

Then Keane finds his way on top of Nicky, and shoots him in the mouth.

There is a **lot** to be said about the imagery of this particular sequence of shots, and the choreography. I will simply highlight the points that stood out to me:

  * There is something horribly visceral and terrifying about the idea of having something shoved into your mouth. Some survivors of sexual assault have found this scene very visceral and difficult to watch, and while I don’t necessarily subscribe to this reading myself, I do not blame them.
  * All Keane’s physical moves up until the explosion have been smooth, controlled, and professional, and this comes back for the moment when he throws Nicky to the floor. He presses his knee into Nicky’s chest to force his mouth open, (possibly) grabs his hair, and inserts the gun very quickly. The impression I have had on repeated viewings of this scene is that this is _not_ the first time Keane has done this, suggesting it is a ‘dirty trick’ that has been pre-meditated.
  * Another aspect of what makes this scene so disturbing is that, for the single shot in which the gun is in Nicky’s mouth, we _almost_ see it from Keane’s perspective (practically over the barrel of the gun.) We see the look of raw terror on Nicky’s face, almost as Keane would see it before pulling the trigger. It’s also one of the few shots in this fight scene where it’s actually clear what’s happening (it’s mostly shrouded in darkness and mist.) We are mercifully spared the visual of Nicky’s brains being blown out onto the floor, instead cutting away to Joe, cringing and letting out a dull, primal scream.



All these elements combine very effectively to tell us a lot about Keane and how he views Joe and Nicky: the only language he is willing to use with them is a very personal kind of violence. This is more frightening to many queer people than an ill-considered homophobic slur. It is wordless, unapologetic cruelty, meted out on these two men for daring to exist and defy him.

Indeed, when we practically see down the barrel of his gun, and see the fear in Nicky’s eyes, we are invited to see what Keane sees. Not for the purpose of sympathising with him, but to show us that this is how some people view the world. That there are people who will take the time and effort to kick someone in the face, to look them in the eye while blowing their brains out, because they can. Because it makes them feel powerful.

## Resolution

This is arguably the most uncomfortable scene in the film to watch.

And yet, combined with the following two scenes, it is possibly one of my favourite minutes of film of all time.

For a start, we see a wounded Andy, being shielded by Nile and Booker, grabbing a fire axe, muttering “enough of this shit,” and going on a righteous rampage. ([The meta implications of this, as pointed out by @solosvejs and @fancyladssnacks, are delicious.](https://fancyladssnacks.tumblr.com/post/626832539538145280/the-old-guard-and-subverting-expectations))

We then cut back to the smoke-filled room. There is a heart-stopping few seconds in which Joe sits over Nicky, grimacing, on the verge of tears, almost unable to look at him and only stealing glances. It is brutal. (Marwan Kenzari has spoken about taking inspiration from Achilles and Patroclus, and this is obvious here—Joe is singularly devastated.)

And then, Nicky awakes in a violent regeneration.

There is a beautiful sigh of relief from them both, and a brief moment of eye contact and physical touch.

And then, they’re back up and in the fight.

Interestingly, the first time I showed my boyfriend the movie, he assumed this would be Nicky’s permanent death, and was surprised when he regenerated. It’s a wonderful inversion of the insidious “bury your gays” trope that has existed for much too long.

The subtext is clear. Yes, queer people **can** survive. Yes, we **can** have our happy ending.

And yes—sometimes, we can even have our retribution.

In the penthouse, Joe, Yusuf al-Kaysani, the Maghrebi artist, the man with the massive laugh and the candid eyebrows who snuggles with his man at night and waxes poetry about him in extremis—Joe, exhausted to the bone, overpowers Keane, and finally has a word with him. This is the only exchange of dialogue between Joe or Nicky and Keane where he is _not_ pointing a gun at them.

_“You shot Nicky. You shouldn’t have done that.”_

And then, Joe kills him.

For many queer people, just surviving in a world that doesn’t love you, in a world that erases you and shuns you, can feel like it requires superhuman strength. Having to navigate the world when people like Keane wander around can feel like an ever-present danger.

 _The Old Guard_ movie acknowledges that. It is very deliberate that the Guard’s only superpower is survival, because it is.

I have absolutely no idea if any of the actors or production crew for the movie identify as queer in any way. Some of the tones in the performances and the direction seemed to have come from a very personal place, or at the very least are extremely socially intelligent and aware of the context of homophobia in society. And this is what makes it such a special film, particularly Joe and Nicky’s subplot and vendetta with Keane—because it is an experience that speaks, on many levels, to the experience of being queer.

To my mind, _The Old Guard_ says to this experience: “yes, I see you. Yes, it’s terrible, isn’t it? Yes, you will survive this.”

**Author's Note:**

>  **Acknowledgments:** Thanks to [@coffeemakesmeahappybean / WarriorOmen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarriorOmen) for allowing me to bounce ideas off him and sharing his own, and showing me that I wasn’t just imagining most of this shit and it really was there as intentional subtext. Thanks, Nate! Also thanks to [@smolpoe](https://smolpoe.tumblr.com) and [@of-scythia](https://of-scythia.tumblr.com) for making me write this damn thing up in the first place. Now I kinda want to do one for Kozak, also a frighteningly effective villain but in very different ways…
> 
> I’d also like to thank the people (who I will not name) who raised concerns about the racist implications of the original version of this post. This has given me a lot to think about in terms of my own understanding of these characters and how race intersects with my interpretation of them. I will aim to do better in future, and again I am sorry for any harm that I caused. 
> 
> **Further Reading:**
> 
>   * [@fuckyeahisawthat: Having some more thoughts about the characters of The Old Guard and their attitudes toward violence, apparently!](https://fuckyeahisawthat.tumblr.com/post/627209751733862400/having-some-more-thoughts-about-the-characters-of)
>   * [@of-scythia + anons: a discussion of Keane’s fight with Joe and Nicky as coded sexual/homophobic violence](https://of-scythia.tumblr.com/post/625392515159375872/the-thing-about-keane-killing-nicky-the-way-he)
>   * [ Joe & Nicky: an analysis of Joe waiting for Nicky to wake up ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25694101) written by [beautifulhigh](https://beautifulhigh.tumblr.com) (imaginentertain)
> 



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